This view of the iconic combined petroglyph and pictograph "She Who
Watches" shows more of the surrounding landscape than the closeup
image. The name Tsagiglalal (or Tsagaglalal) comes from the Wishram
language, which is nearly extinct. Her visage overlooks one of the
Columbia River's most interesting places, now lost in the name of
progress.

At the time She Who Watches was carved, the undammed Columbia River flowed
through a narrow basalt channel called Fivemile Rapids—only 100 yards wide,
boiling up in a deafening roar. An
ancient volcanic eruption created a natural dam here for a short time, which the
river overflowed and quickly scoured out the channel. The gap was
visible at low river levels, if one can call a flow of over 200,000 cubic feet per second
"low."

Indians stood on rickety wood platforms and plunged dip nets woven from bull
kelp, cedar bark, whale sinew or nettle fiber into the water's chaos and pulled
out huge salmon. At times the run of fish was so prolific that each dip of
the net brought up a fish.

Now the river is wide and calm, tamed by The Dalles Dam. The rapids
flowed for the last time in March 1957. We can bring back this sight, but
it will take persistence and possibly a revolution in energy production that
makes hydroelectric power obsolete. To read more of the story of Celilo
Falls and Fivemile Rapids, see George W. Aguilar's "Celilo
Lives on Paper."